JIGS....A luthier's Best Friend

[Thumpin_P]

Hey guys!
I had an idea and ran it past Mr. Turner:
There are so many skilled people on this forum, who have found creative ways of making their lives easier during repetition..., jigs! Wouldn't it be great if we had a collection of some of these jigs, self made tools, and just time-saving ideas in one thread. He agreed to make it a sticky, so that it would be an easy to find reference, which is one of the highlights of this forum. Not only entertainment, but also education and a sharing of great ideas, worldwide. I call for help because, the search function, while very powerful and useful, often times centers on just the word. "Jigs" is used quite a lot, often times with no description of said jig. I will be working on this, but, if you have a thread which has pictures and descriptions of a jig which you have created, and has proven to be helpful, post it here and hopefully, we can create one heck of a resource for all of the lurkers and luthiers, who call this place home. I thank you all for your help and hope that this thread can be a success.

Sincerely,

Thumpin_P

 

[Thumpin_P]

This one has some pretty nice homemade tools, and a binding adapter for a router

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/2nd-bass-build-lp-boot-776791/

and this one is the thread that inspired this, coutesy of Ledbelli, it's fairly new:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/fingerboard-radius-jig-router-655298/

 

[Musiclogic]

I am sure there will be some great jigs as soon as people start sharing. I think some like me keep my jigs to myself as they are adapted to very specific tools and building styles. Give it time, there will be some good ones eventually.

 

[Thumpin_P]

Thank you very much, sir. I understand your point. I definitely don't want people to give away "trade secrets" or anything like that. Just simple things like a binding jig or the radiusing router jig. I thought these were very good ideas, and the lightbulb went off. So much has been given to me personally, over the years, that I wanted to do something to further the spirit of sharing and learning. I am still searching, but I have a busy weekend and an even busier week. Thanks again,

Thumpin_P

 

[lvca]

well, here is my 'thickneser'

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it's just a portable router screwed to a MDF piece, fixed with clamps to 2 strip of chipboard? (I wonder if this is the correct word, English isn't my language) in each side.


as you see it's not the faster and more precise tool you can use, but if you don't have the money it works well


hope it helps!

 

[Thumpin_P]

Ivca,
Thanks so much for that! This is the direction I wanted to go!

Let's keep it goin'

Thumpin_P

 

[Woodpecker]

Here's something I found on the net a long time ago. A simple one-time jig for routing out the neck pocket in bodies; Link Removed

 

[Thumpin_P]

Here's something I found on the net a long time ago. A simple one-time jig for routing out the neck pocket in bodies; Link Removed

Very Cool!! Thanks for that! I love pages like that, full of all kinds of goodies!

Keep it up guys! We are slowly building a collection! Awesome!

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Ok, I'll play. Here is my jig for edge sanding using a pretty cheap sander. All built on an old amp/speaker stand.
Enjoy!
Dirk
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[Down & Outman]

That gives me an idea for my sander. Thanks.

I enjoy sharing my ideas. Hope it helps somebody.

 

[Popbumper]

I used to work in a cabinet shop where I built, of all things, reproduction pinball machine cabinets. I developed a number of jigs which helped in the subassembly process, that I still have. I would post pics here but not certain it really applies, other than to say jigs are and invaluable KEY to producing repeatable, quality results.

Chris

 

[tZer]

This is my table saw sled that I use for a lot of things - but most recently for cutting the neck and fingerboard taper.

 

[pilotjones]

There are a bunch of jigs in my build thread. Off the top of my head:

• small resaw guide for bandsaw
• fretsaw guide
• neck lamination press
• taper jig for cutting scarf joint, usable for multiscale
• body, neck, headstock, pickup and cavity templates

 

[Thumpin_P]

Guys! Thank you so much for this! Hopefully we can get this into a sticky. Any way that you make you work easier counts in this thread. I'm just all about the spirit of helping. Thanks again to all, and I will have an update about R-V after a while.

Thumpin_P

 

[Rodent]

one of my most used jigs - a clear body outline with scribed centerline, neck pocket, and scale reference. I use these for locating the body outline on a figured top, referencing body core grain, communicating tracings to customers, and (as seen here) for routing the final body perimeter after it's been roughed at the bandsaw. some may call this a simple template, but given the multiple uses I have fit it in my shop it ranks right there with the more esoteric single purpose jigs

I also have a matching set of neck pocket templates for each scale length and neck style I used with a specific model

there's many others that are specific to an aspect of a cetrain model that I'll let remain confined to the walls of my shop ... but I can share one of the most recent 'jigs' I've made. this one is used to cut the body outline and gut-cut on the back side of this model, and a corresponding 'jig' is used for the front side to cut the outline, neck pocket, pickup cavities, and top-routed control cavity amongst other things

all the best,

R

 

[Thumpin_P]

Rodent,
Thanks for that! Definitely continuing the coolness!

 

[Grantrudd]

Very simple 13 degree scarf joint jig that i "borrowed" from one of wilser's threads. makes scarfs very clean, easy and repeatable. basically an angled router box to use with a router sled.

 

[Thumpin_P]

Very cool!! Thanks!

 

[Down & Outman]

Here's acouple more of mine. First a truss rod jig. Pretty basic. Spend most of my time lining it up and 2 minutes to route it. The wood under the clamps are stops for the router.

Next is my thickness sander. More of a tool than a jig, but it works.

 

[Thumpin_P]

Awesome!!! Thank you for those! We use a similar thickness sander at R-V. I WILL be building one in the future! What hp motor do you use?